Definition: MPACT chip

An earlier programmable media processor from Chromatic Research, Sunnyvale, CA, that provided parallel processing of audio, video and graphics. Introduced in 1997, software from Chromatic enabled the chip to perform DVD control, MPEG-1 and 2, Dolby Digital audio, wavetable audio, 2D and 3D graphics and modem operations. In MPACT 2, 3D functions were hard wired on the chip. Chromatic was acquired by ATI Technologies in 1998, but support for the product has since been discontinued.